


Turn the Beat Around

by coolbyrne



Series: In Time [7]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23738140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/pseuds/coolbyrne
Summary: A diner in the disco era. A duo for the ages. Part 7 of the 8-part series, 'In Time'. Slibbs
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Series: In Time [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701886
Comments: 23
Kudos: 35





	Turn the Beat Around

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know. Another character death! But by this point, we know this is leading to a happy ending, right?? I wanted to do something like this after seeing 'Blarney' (s17e19), and it sort of became this story.
> 
> This doesn't quite work for their timeline the way the other stories make different lives at different times plausible. (For example, even if he dies in 'Nam and is reborn immediately, he'd be too young right now to be current Gibbs.) Some of the '70s stuff doesn't line up properly either- the Vietnam War (ended 1975) was well before the Disco era (late '70s). But I liked the idea of a younger Gibbs and Jack meeting, and my wife insisted I use Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" :) She also is responsible for the mustache. :p Can you picture Mark Harmon with some nice feathered hair and a 'stache? Lol! 'Redford' and 'Sundance' refers to Robert Redford and his character, 'Sundance Kid', from the 1969 movie, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. I wanted to reference Burt Reynold's mustache, but 'Smokey and the Bandit' didn't come out until 1977.

.....

“Leroy, go bus Table 2 and 8 for me, will ya? Elaine’s gettin’ swamped.” 

He nodded at the burly man at the grill. “Yes, sir.”

“And don’t ‘sir’ me. You ain’t in the Army yet.”

Gibbs grabbed a plastic bin and stepped out onto the floor of the diner, side-stepping customers on his way to the window seats. He had been coming to the tiny restaurant since he was a boy, and he took great pride in the place, even if he’d never get higher than dishwasher. 

“Al still giving you the business about joining the Army?” Elaine asked. She was right behind him with a cloth and clean utensils for the next round.

“Just tryin’ to figure out how to tell Dad,” Gibbs said, clearing off the table. “He’ll want me to join the Air Force.”

“Not your thing, sweetie?”

“‘Fraid of heights.” He said it as a joke because the truth of the matter was, he wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to join the Air Force. Part of it was not wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps, but there was something deeper behind the decision.

She brushed back his hair with a motherly touch. “I’m going to miss all this when you decide. Won’t miss the moustache, though.”

“Good,” he replied, “‘cause I’m keepin’ it. Redford’s got one.”

“He’s also got 10 years on you. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm,” she purred. Seeing his smirk, she wrinkled her nose and snapped him with her cloth. “You both have beautiful blue eyes, I’ll give you that. Better get at it before Al sees us and takes it out of our lunch break.”

…..

He didn’t, and with the lunch crowd gone with only a handful of customers remaining, Gibbs was able to sit in the corner booth and scarf down the burger and fries while trying to ignore the music that came from the jukebox at the other end of the narrow diner. Elaine came by with his milkshake and took in his expression.

“Not a Rod Stewart fan?”

“Ya think?”

“Don’t get sassy with me. Besides, you’re trying to tell me you don’t get down with this at the disco on Saturday nights?”

“You almost made it to the end of that sentence without laughin’,” he said.

She shrugged her confession. “Well, you might want to talk to that pretty blonde at the end; I just gave her a whole stack of quarters to put in the machine.”

He grunted but kept his head down, figuring the quicker he ate, the sooner he could get back to the kitchen, where the sounds of Al cursing and the dishwasher kicking in would drown out Rod asking if anyone thought he was sexy. And right on cue, the blonde stood up and walked to the jukebox. Elaine patted him on the shoulder in mock sympathy. 

“Take your time, sweetie,” she told him with a grin.

He hadn’t seen the blonde when she came in, having been more focused on getting people out the door than he had been on who was coming in. Even now, it was hard to get a good look at her from a distance, with 4 other people in an animated discussion in one of the booths between them. It was when she turned from the jukebox to go back to her seat that he saw her face.

His fork clattered to the floor.

Scooping it up before Elaine had a chance to ask him what happened, he quickly lowered his head and looked at his plate, hoping his hair would cover his eyes. He knew her. And not in a “I’ve seen you around” kind of way, unless ‘around’ meant ‘centuries’. He heard the thought in his mind and gave himself a head slap. 

_Are you outta your mind?_

It seemed he wasn’t entirely in it, because right before the song ended, he dug out a quarter from his jeans and went to the jukebox. Elaine glanced up from the counter she was wiping to see what he was doing. Ignoring her curiosity, he leaned against the machine, dropped his coin into the slot, hit 2 buttons and watched the record get pulled from its home and placed gently on the turntable. Part of his waiting was due to his unending interest in how things worked, but the other was the internal war his brain was waging. 

_Ya gotta turn around at some point._

Convincing himself he was imagining things helped him turn around, seeing her face swept aside the conviction. When he stopped dead at her table, she looked up, clearly ready to tell the stranger to keep walking, but seeing his blue eyes caught the words in her throat. He watched her swallow and blink then shake her head. If he thought he was out of his mind, she must’ve been, too, because she looked at him in a way that could only be described as ‘possessive’. The glint in her eyes burrowed in his memories, painted pictures of the sea and hillsides, of far away places and those close to home. He couldn’t find a way to bring those words to his lips, but he was saved the trouble when she spoke first.

“Would you like to sit, or-?”

He didn’t wait for the second option, sliding in the opposite seat. Her eyes scanned his face this time, taking in the youngest version she’d ever seen. A face free of lines and experience, but still as recognizable as her own. As she took in his face, he did the same with her, marvelling at the smile that never faded, as new now as it was every other time.

_Every other time._

He snorted at the idea, and the sound brought her back to the present. 

“We _do_ know each other, right?”

He sidestepped the question and asked one of his own. “What brings you around here?”

She glanced towards her small VW outside the diner. “Just got into town. College starts in 2 months. And what about you?”

“I live just down the road. College, huh?”

“Mom scraped up enough money together to get me in. And you?”

“Nah,” he replied, looking out the window. “Was thinkin’ of joining the Army.”

The information made her hum. “Not the Air Force? Probably a good decision.”

He dropped his head and laughed. Laughed at her easy joke, laughed at the relief of no longer needing to wait. His smile went wide at the thought of all the time ahead of them. Lifting his head, he saw her attention went to the window.

“What is it?” His eyes followed hers. Later, he might be able to break everything down in separate moments, split-second decisions, but in here and now, it was a jumble of police cars and shouting, of people fleeing and of shooting. “Get down!” Everyone in the diner obeyed, and he huddled with Jack under the table. “You okay?”

“Yeah. What happened?”

“Looks like the jewelry store across the street got held up.” Inhaling deeply, he called out, “Elaine?”

“We’re good, Leroy.”

“Okay,” he said. “We need to get everyone out the back door. Get ‘em somewhere safe.”

A customer refused with a shout. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s a warzone out there!”

Their decision was made for them when the door burst open and a man with a balaclava and a gun stumbled in, slamming the door behind him. With a shaking hand, he pointed the gun at a woman cowering around the stool.

“Close the curtains!” When she hesitated, he yelled, “Close the curtains!!”

Gibbs slowly stood, hands raised. “She’s scared.” He began doing the task, hoping to not get shot in the back. Jack stood and began helping.

“You!” he shouted at Jack. “You, sit. All of you, sit! Over there.” He waved his gun towards the booths. “Sit by the window.” The voice wasn’t nearly as strong as the words and Gibbs caught on to it immediately.

“Hey. It doesn’t have to be this way.” He held out his hand, steady and calm. “No one’s been hurt. You can still get outta this.”

“Shut up!!”

“How old are you, son?”

The black-clad man turned to Elaine who was frozen behind the counter but brave enough to speak up.

“Shut up!”

As was her way, she wasn’t about to take talkback from anyone, even if he _was_ holding a gun. “You’re no older than my son. What are you doing?”

“Why won’t you people listen?” Frustration poured out of his voice and he put it into action. Moving quickly to Elaine, he pointed the gun directly at her. “Not one more word. Understand?” Gibbs’ protective step forward was stopped by the phone. The shrill clang reverberated through the silent diner making everyone jump. “What’s that?”

“The cops,” Gibbs said. “They probably wanna make a deal.”

The gunman paused, uncertain what to do next. “Fine. Answer it.” He turned the gun around on Gibbs. “No funny business.”

Jack reached out for Gibbs’ hand, not to keep him back but to give a reassuring squeeze. He glanced back and found strength in her eyes. “Hell of a first day, hey Sundance?”

He squeezed back, then slowly walked to the phone. Lifting the receiver, he said, “Yeah?” There was a silence, no doubt filled by questions on the other end. “Ten. One. Yep. Yep.”

Unhappy with the subterfuge, the man yanked the phone out of Gibbs’ hand and yelled into it. “I want an unmarked car in front in 5 minutes or people start dying.” He slammed the receiver back onto its hook.

“The only person dyin’ here is you, kid.” All eyes went to Al, long forgotten in the kitchen. The big man held a small revolver in a hand so large, it looked like a toy. Gibbs and Elaine knew otherwise. “Drop it, or I drop you.”

The bang reminded Gibbs a little of the Winchester his dad would fire off every now and then, but in the confines of the small diner, the handgun seemed 10 times louder. The bullet cracked into the wall, missing Al by a good foot, but it set off a chain of reactions that was only ever going to end in tragedy. Startled by the sound and the kick of the gun, overcome by fear and frustration, the robber shot again and again, at no one and everyone. Six shots seemed to take minutes, even if the reality was only in seconds. When the last shot was fired, Al dropped his weapon and charged forward, roaring at the gunman and tackling him to the ground. The only sound was some soft crying, some low groaning, and the phone ringing again.

Gibbs was breathing heavily, the adrenaline kicking in, but he found enough clarity to say, “Elaine?”

“I got it, Leroy.”

Leaving her to the phone, he scanned the diner until he was satisfied by every nod he received. Then he saw her.

“Jack!”

She was still huddled under the table, but it hadn’t been able to protect her from the panicked shooting. Holding her shoulder didn’t stop the blood from seeping through her fingers. He leaped over the counter and was immediately at her side.

“‘Leroy’, huh?” she joked with strained breath.

“Shhh,” he told her, pressing a dish towel against the wound.

“You didn’t… you didn’t even have time to get used to having me around.”

Her inability to listen to him made him ask, “Were you this difficult all the other times?”

“I bet worse.” Her smile was weak but warm. “One day we’ll grow old together,” she promised. “I can’t wait to see this turn silver.” Her free hand came up to brush through his hair. He turned into her touch and kissed her wrist before kissing her properly. It was new and yet so, so familiar. Slowly pulling back, she looked into eyes she knew better than her own. “Not the moustache though, okay?”

He gripped her tightly against his chest and smiled through his tears. 

…..

-end


End file.
